RealGM Wiretap

Dirk Nowitzki plans to forgo surgery on his right knee for as long as possible.

Nowitzki has experienced swelling and soreness for nearly the entire training camp, but wants to play the entire season without surgery.

"There was less swelling in there again," Nowitzki said. "The good news is it's not as much as it was last week in Barcelona.

"I guess that's a little positive, but I'm going to see if it does any better the next couple of days before I do another decision."

Nowitzki's recovery period would be 3-6 weeks if he underwent surgery.

Nowitzki is hoping his knee will respond positively in the next few days.

"If it's going to keep swelling up, that's obviously not a way to go through an 82-game season and hopefully a long playoff run," he said. "So we're going to see how it responds this week, a reduced workload... and hopefully get this swelling out the next couple of days."